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I'm curious what people's experiences have been with Founders Fund investing in your companies. feel free to answer anonymously.

ffceo 11y ago
Responding anonymously to show there's no incentive to give praise. They led our (largish) seed round. Had a slightly negative experience with one partner, but the median person we worked with beat most firms we talked to in first principles thinking by quite a margin. They were all very bright and had a wide range of knowledge. They were far less interested in "who else is in" and more interested in your analysis of your business from basic building blocks. When we were doing due diligence on them, the main "complaint" we heard from people who had raised from them is that it's hard to read their judgement. They may seem bearish on you then invest last minute or the opposite. Most people had great things to say though. Hope this is helpful for anyone considering talking to them.
- RateOurInvestor 11y ago
  Hi ffceo, Thanks a lot for your comment on FF. Feedbacks on investors are important for entrepreneurs, but unfortunately hard to find. I know too many entrepreneurs who spent too long time chasing investors who are unresponsive, unhelpful, or worst ("zombie investors"). The comments from you and nickpinkston above actually inspired me today to put together a little project called "Rate Our Investor" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11378769 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11378769. It is a crowdsourced spreadsheet that collects entrepreneurs' feedback on investors. Hopefully you don't mind the plug =) Thanks again for the inspiration!
nickpinkston 11y ago
I've really enjoyed our experience with FF at Plethora. They led all 3 rounds we've done, and I definitely plan to continuing working with them. They also invest in some really "hard tech" business - like mine - so they're comfortable with highly technical / risky ventures - if you're ambitious enough in what you're doing. They do live up to their name as "founder friendly" and Peter likes to show off the numbers that show that founder-led businesses outperform "professional" led companies and that they've never replaced a founder. Our relationship with their team has been that they move fast and are quick to help without being overly pushy like many firms. Their model is to invest in founders who they think will run the business better than they can, not try to put on a ton of pressure. I've always felt they were trusting of my judgment while properly pushing back when needed. Please email me (nickpinkston@gmail.com) or reply below - I'll try to do a little AMA.

ffceo 11y ago

Responding anonymously to show there's no incentive to give praise. They led our (largish) seed round. Had a slightly negative experience with one partner, but the median person we worked with beat most firms we talked to in first principles thinking by quite a margin. They were all very bright and had a wide range of knowledge. They were far less interested in "who else is in" and more interested in your analysis of your business from basic building blocks. When we were doing due diligence on them, the main "complaint" we heard from people who had raised from them is that it's hard to read their judgement. They may seem bearish on you then invest last minute or the opposite. Most people had great things to say though. Hope this is helpful for anyone considering talking to them.

RateOurInvestor 11y ago
Hi ffceo, Thanks a lot for your comment on FF. Feedbacks on investors are important for entrepreneurs, but unfortunately hard to find. I know too many entrepreneurs who spent too long time chasing investors who are unresponsive, unhelpful, or worst ("zombie investors"). The comments from you and nickpinkston above actually inspired me today to put together a little project called "Rate Our Investor" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11378769 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11378769. It is a crowdsourced spreadsheet that collects entrepreneurs' feedback on investors. Hopefully you don't mind the plug =) Thanks again for the inspiration!

nickpinkston 11y ago

I've really enjoyed our experience with FF at Plethora. They led all 3 rounds we've done, and I definitely plan to continuing working with them. They also invest in some really "hard tech" business - like mine - so they're comfortable with highly technical / risky ventures - if you're ambitious enough in what you're doing. They do live up to their name as "founder friendly" and Peter likes to show off the numbers that show that founder-led businesses outperform "professional" led companies and that they've never replaced a founder. Our relationship with their team has been that they move fast and are quick to help without being overly pushy like many firms. Their model is to invest in founders who they think will run the business better than they can, not try to put on a ton of pressure. I've always felt they were trusting of my judgment while properly pushing back when needed. Please email me (nickpinkston@gmail.com) or reply below - I'll try to do a little AMA.